This is your brain ...: Anti-drug programs plan prevention

The Siskiyou Substance Abuse Coalition (SSAC) voted at its Aug. 19 meeting to approve and support the Siskiyou County Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Strategic Plan for 2013-16.

The strategy is a requirement for all recipients of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Federal Block Grant, presented by the California Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Programs.

Siskiyou County, the SSAC and its partners are required to use the plan's framework for all projects funded by the grant. The strategy focuses on the following steps: assessment, capacity, planning, implementation and evaluation.

The assessment step began with an evaluation of the 2011-12 California Healthy Kids Survey.

Its data showed that "4% of 7th graders, 13% of 9th graders, 30% of 11th graders and 36 % of [non-traditional] students have participated in binge drinking (5 or more in a row) in the past 30 days," as stated in the strategic plan itself. It also noted a larger base of marijuana users in non-traditional students.

The plan called the percentages "unacceptable" and stated "particular concern" for the higher rates of non-traditional school students.

The assessment step noted potential local factors contributing to youth substance abuse issues as well. It lists Siskiyou County as ranking 56th of California's 58 counties in "reported child abuse and neglect cases" with an estimated 80% of involved families being influenced by drugs and alcohol.

It further commented on the county's 12.9% unemployment rate as of April 2013 (compared to 9% statewide at that time) and its lack of inpatient treatment facilities.

The planning step pinpointed two priorities based on its assessment. The first being "the need for increased community and youth awareness of the negative impacts" of drugs and alcohol abuse, and the second is "the need to decrease the number of youth who are isolated from their schools" and engage them in "community healthy living activities."

To show how the SSAC aims to advance these prevention priorities, the strategy incorporates methods and objectives for local anti-drug programs such as D.A.R.E., Athlete Committed, Parent Committed, and Brief Intervention for Athletes and Parents, among others.

The implementation step explained the goal is to maximize the prevention strategies' effectiveness through education by providing it on a continual basis and reaching out to more of the community's population rather than targeting a single age group.

Arden Carr, licensed clinical supervisor at Siskiyou County Human Services Agency, presented the strategy for the coalition's approval during the meeting.

"For prevention to be more effective, we need to have prevention-harm presentations on all the drugs, not just one," he said, noting children tend to spotlight the subject at hand rather than generalize information organically.

He also said they were looking into possibly expanding the programs to one or two additional schools this year.